Short Change Hero
by Foryewhoartliterate
Summary: So... You want to hear a story eh? How about the one where the fate of Pandora hung in the balance between the Vault Hunters and the tyrant Handsome Jack and the dreaded Hyperion Corporation? A retelling of the storyline of Borderlands 2.
1. Intro- The Train

Heyo!

So this is an idea that I've had stuck in my head for awhile actually, a retelling of the storyline from Borderlands 2. I'm not sure how frequent updates will be, but if nothing else, I'll never get stuck on where to take the story. Also, if you've got any suggestions or concerns about the story, please send me a PM with your comment/complaint. I promise I'll respond.

I hope you enjoy!

**Intro- The Train**

* * *

A skag slowly staggered its way across one of Pandora's many desolate roads. Dust floated up through the air with every movement and breeze and then lazily settled back down. The sun beat down on the stretch of road, like it did everyday.

The skag looked up at a giant, sun faded billboard on side of the road. On the billboard was a giant man with his arms outstretched, it said "Vault Hunters Wanted." Not that the skag knew that. He just knew that it had been there for almost a year now and it was still the only place to rest in the shade for miles. Hence why the skag was here.

As he staggered across the road he heard something coming towards him, it started as a low hum and then increased in volume as it got closer. The skag looked up and tilted its head to the side to see what it was. Suddenly it was hit by a mass of metal and the skag dropped to the ground.

It slowly stood back up and looked at the mass of metal that had just hit it, but before he got a good look, something grabbed at his back leg and started pulling him along with the car.

On the car a psycho midget was pulling on a crank to reel in the skag. He didn't know what he was going to do with it yet. Probably eat it, or maybe just kill it. Keep it as a pet? Wear it like a coat? He wasn't sure.

But he got bored quickly and left the crank before the skag was reeled all the way in, leaving the creature to get dragged along with the car.

The psychos stood up, turned to a fellow bandit and grabbed ahold of his head. He violently slammed his head into the other bandit and the bandit instantly slumped down in his seat as if dead. But he was probably just unconscious. But still, dead was an option. It always was on Pandora.

The midget, now bored with his fellow bandit as well, jumped up past the driver and onto the hood of the car. He slammed his hands onto the car's hood, thrilled for all of three seconds.

Then there was a loud, low whistle and the car exploded into fragments as a train rammed into its side. The psycho had all of two seconds before he was turned into a thick red paste on the ground.

The train rocketed past and into another Pandorian biome, a giant ice field. If nothing else, Pandora had a diverse geography; deserts right next to glaciers.

Inside the train, four people stood inside one of the cars. One of them a young but grizzled man in army fatigues, with various pieces of tech attached to his suit. Another, a blue haired woman in a yellow combat outfit, with swirling tattoos running up the length of her left arm. Yet another was a very short, hairy man wearing a dirty old outfit with ammo belts slung over both shoulders. The last was a tall figure in an all black suit, their face obscured by a black visor and the only identification a red zero on the chest of their suit.

A sign was behind them hanging from the roof of the train car, it said "Welcome Vault Hunters" and showed a picture of the same man as the billboard. It fell to the floor and revealed another sign behind it, which said "Too Your Doom."

A handful of Hyperion GUN loaders burst into the car and the four people turned around and got ready for a fight.

The one in army fatigues ran away from the loaders and turned around about halfway from the back of the car. He threw out a storage deck that latched to the ceiling and digistructed a Dahl tech Sabre turret and grabbed a launcher off of his back and pointed it at the loaders.

_Axton as the commando_

He fired and the rocket sailed through the car. The woman pressed up against the wall and barely avoided being hit by the rocket. As it exploded, another loader headed for her. The tattoos on her arm glowed bright blue and a small glowing ball formed in her palm, and another, larger ball, formed around the loader.

_Maya as the siren_

She moved her arm to the side and threw the loader out of the train ripping open the side of the car in the process and the open hole sucked out the short man. He grabbed onto the side of the flayed metal and pulled himself back into the train. He digistructed two large spinguns and fired at the rest of the loaders.

_Salvador as the gunzerker_

As the loaders dropped, he raised the guns up and started firing at the ceiling and laughing. The bullets ripped through the top of the car, where the last person stood on the roof. Two engineers ran up to him and the first one punched him, but the hit went right through him and he disappeared. Suddenly there was a noise from behind and the first engineer turned around only to see the second engineer be impaled by a digistructed katana. The figure jumped over them and on the way down kicked the first engineer into the blade, still protruding from the other; killing them both.

_Zer0 as a number_

He dropped down through a hatch into the train car with the other three. The loaders were gone and they were gathered in front of the door leading to the next car. The commando kicked it down and they ran in. There was a figure sitting in a chair.

"You know, it's cute that y'all think you're the heroes of this little adventure, but you're not."

The chair slowly turned around and revealed an Echo-Recorder taped to a mannequin and surrounded by explosives.

"Welcome to Pandora kiddos."

A small clock ticked down from two seconds, to one second, to zero and the train erupted into fire. The cars broke apart and the cars landed on the ground below taking the Vault Hunters with them.

* * *

**Author's Note: Like I said, if you've got any suggestions/complaints, feel free to send me a PM.****  
**


	2. Welcome to Pandora Kiddos

Heyo!

So someone asked if Gaige and Krieg would also be in this story. In the first draft I didn't plan on it, but then I realized that that would be leaving out a third of the Vault Hunters and I decided that I'd just go for it. However, seeing as Gaige and Krieg aren't in the intro video and that dropping six vault hunters right into the beginning is a bit much, I decided that they won't be featuring in the fic until further down the road. How much further? You'll just have to wait and see.

Also, before anyone says anything about it, I know that I've taken some of the NPC dialog and changed it up, omitted some of it and added some of it. That's because it's hard to fit everything inside of the actually in game dialog. So I'm taking some artistic liberties if you will and down the road they'll be more dramatic differences. Nothing's going to deviate in game changing ways, but a lot of it will be different. After all, you've probably all played Borderlands, so I have to make it a little more interesting somehow.

That is all.

Love it, flame it, hate it, write a detailed literary analysis, I don't care. I just hope you enjoy!

**Welcome to Pandora Kiddos**

* * *

Axton was pretty sure he could hear someone's muffled voice off in the distance, but right now all he could really hear was the ringing noise the explosion had left in his ears.

He spent a second collecting his thoughts, where exactly was he?

Pandora, right? Yeah, Pandora. He had taken a job as a Vault Hunter with a few other people. That dwarf guy, Salvador was it? And that creepy assassin guy Zer0. And that really hot siren chick Maya.

But why was he face first in a snowdrift with his ears ringing?

The explosion. That's right. The train they were on had blown up. Right after it got attacked by Hyperion. Which was weird, because if Axton remembered correctly that's who had given him the Vault Hunting job in the first place.

He groaned and picked his face up out of the snow.

He saw a blinding snowstorm raging around him. Visibility was next to nothing. But he was pretty sure he could pick out a figure a couple of feet in front of him. It looked like a small robot.

Axton pulled himself up out of the snow and stood up. His muscles ached from all of the recent trauma and he wasn't sure how much of his gear had survived the impact. He made a mental note to check later.

He squinted through the snowstorm. He was pretty sure that there was something in front of him and it definitely looked like a robot.

"Oh great," the robot said. "Another dead Vault Hunter. Handsome Jack's sure been busy lately."

The robot plunged into the snow with a shovel and started digging. But after only two shovels full he stopped.

"Wait a minute, you're not dead!" He exclaimed poking at an unmoving body.

"Oh wait... Never mind you're dead... Skag crap." He mutter to himself.

"Uh... Hi there little fella..." Axton said.

The robot looked up.

"But you're not dead!" He exclaimed.

"No... No I'm not."

"That means I can finally get off this glacier! Claptrap your metaphorical ship has finally come in!"

"What now?"

"Allow me to introduce myself, I'm a CL4P-TP steward bot, but my friends call me Claptrap! Or they would, if any of them were still alive, or had existed in the first place." The robot said in an oddly cheery tone. "Oh I've got something for you!" He added.

Claptrap handed Axton an Echo-Device and Axton took it.

"Here. Take this Echo-communicator that I totally didn't loot off one of these corpses." The robot said. "It comes with a class twelve heads up display, complete with a mini-map."

Dahl tech. Easy enough to work with, should be compatible with the misuses too. Axton looked back up at the robot.

"Hey," He said. "I don't suppose you've seen three others around here somewhere have you?"

"Nope. Just that dead guy over there." The robot said pointing at a nearby corpse.

It wasn't any of the Vault Hunters that he had seen on the train, which meant that all of them were still unaccounted for.

"Stay here." Axton said to the robot.

"I don't take orders from you!" The robot protested.

"I thought I was your ticket out of here. You want my help you stay put until I come back."

"Fine..." The robot grudgingly agreed.

Axton walked off into the wreck of what had once been a train. Cars were overturned, a couple of them were on fire and some had been completely destroyed in the blast.

Axton cupped his hands around his mouth.

"Maya? Zer0? Sal?" He yelled. "Any of you out here?"

He listened for a response. He thought he heard something over the howl of the wind, but he couldn't tell what direction it came from.

"Maya? Sal? Zer0?" He yelled again. "Is that you?"

This time he heard a distinct "over here" coming from his left.

He turned in the direction of the sound and looked into the blizzard. For brief moment he saw someone through a break in the snowfall. But then the snow picked up again and visibility went back to zero.

Axton headed off in the direction of the figure and a few feet later he bumped into someone. He toppled over forward and landed on top of both a snowbank and a familiar siren.

"Hey there." He said. "Fancy running into you."

"Really?" She replied. "We survive an explosion and the first thing you do is try to flirt with me?"

"Yeah."

Maya rolled her eyes and pushed the commando off of her.

She tried to get up but instead she accidentally pushed herself further into the snowbank.

"Want some help?" Axton said extending a hand.

Maya stayed silent but grabbed the hand regardless. He pulled her to her feet and up out of the snow.

"Have you seen the others?" She asked him.

"Nope, just you."

"Then I guess we should start looking." She said.

The two of them walked off further into the train's wreckage.

"Sal? Zer0? You guys out there?" Axton yelled.

No response.

"Maybe they died in the crash." Maya said.

"Well aren't you just full of cheer?"

"I'm just being realistic. Its a miracle that we survived. Maybe they weren't so lucky."

"Even if they didn't make it, I'm searching until I find a corpse."

"Why?"

"Because in ten years at Dahl I never failed bring back a squad mate. I'm not starting now."

"Wow... I'm actually impressed by that show of loyalty."

"Well, part of it also has to do with a bet I made with Salvador. Long story short he owes me twenty bucks. So come hell or high water I'm getting my money."

"And just like that I'm no longer impressed."

Axton shrugged.

They kept walking but after a few meters Axton put his arm out in front of Maya to get her to stop.

"What is it-"

Axton shushed her.

"Do you hear that?"

Maya listened carefully, but all she could hear was the wind.

"I don't hear anything." She said.

"I definitely heard something. Over there I think." He said pointing to an overturned train car in front and to the left of them.

They walked closer to the car. There was a lot of blood on it and it was broken in half.

"What the hell was in there?" Maya asked.

Axton shrugged. "Hell if I know."

Suddenly a large, four armed beast jumped up on top of the car.

"Bullymong." Maya said. "I've read about them."

"Did you read about how to kill them?"

"No."

The bullymong roared at the two Vault Hunters.

"In that case, seeing as we're both unarmed, I suggest we run." Axton said.

But before they did anything else a familiar assassin jumped on top of the bullymong from behind and plunged a katana into the back of its skull.

The bullymong went limp and Zer0 jumped to the ground.

"A fearsome creature/Deadly and terrifying/But not a challenge."

"I found Zer0." Axton said.

"You don't say?" The siren replied sarcastically.

"Anyway, thanks for taking out the big guy." Axton said. "We owe you one."

"Noted."

There was a brief, awkward silence.

"Have you seen Salvador?" Maya asked.

"The short angry one?/No, I have not yet seen him/Have either of you?"

"Nope." They answered in unison.

"We should get looking." Zer0 said and as he walked past the other two Vault Hunters. Maya and Axton followed behind him.

"Sal? You out here?" Axton yelled.

"I detect something/It could be the gunzerker/We should take a look."

"Lead the way big guy."

Zer0 turned to his right and headed for another overturned car.

"Inside." He said. "Help me open it."

Axton grabbed a hold of the car door with Zer0 and the two of them pried the door open.

"Amigos! You came!" A familiar voice announced as soon as the door was opened.

"Great." Axton said. "You're alive. Now where's my twenty bucks?"

"It's good to see you too." The Truxican said crawling out of the car.

"What now?" Maya asked.

"I saw a robot over there." Axton said pointing in the general direction of where he had landed. "He said something about me being his ticket off this glacier. Might be worth checking out."

"Sounds good." Salvador said.

"Do we have much choice?" Maya asked.

"What about you big guy?" Axton asked Zer0.

"Lets go." He replied.

"Alright, lets go then."

The Vault Hunters followed Axton back to the robot. He was still digging a hole to put the corpse in, but he hadn't made much progress. The robot looked up.

"You've returned! And you brought more Vault Hunters who aren't dead!"

The Vault Hunters looked at Axton questioningly.

"Seriously?" Maya said.

"Here!" The robot said. "Take these Echo-communicators that I totally didn't loot from corpses."

He handed one out to each of the three other Vault Hunters.

"Now," he said. "Come come friends, let's get you all inside. Man this is great now that I've finally got some mighty Vault Hunters with me, I can join the resistance in Sanctuary and get vengeance on Jack for destroying my product line and repair my central processor, so I stop thinking outloud. ...I wonder what it's like to have a bellybutton?"

He started rolling away but the Vault Hunters hesitated to follow him.

"I'll explain everything soon, but know this, you're alive for a reason and I'm here to help you." A voice said from seemingly nowhere.

"You guys hear that?" Axton asked, visibly spooked.

"Yeah..."

"Yes."

"I think so."

"You're going to have to trust me on this." The voice said again.

"I heard it again..." Axton muttered.

"Oh god, it's the ghosts of the Chung gang!" Salvador screamed. "Ay, Dios mio! They've finally come for me!"

"Hold on." Maya said. "I think it's coming from those Echo's that Claptrap just gave us."

"Huh?" Salvador said. "So they're not the unearthly remains of the dead come to haunt me?"

"N-no... Probably not..."

"I'm sorry to scare you like that." The voice announced. "I'm a... Well, just call me a Guardian Angel. I'm here to help you." She said cheerfully.

"So not a ghost?" Salvador asked.

"Not a ghost." She responded.

"Good." He mumbled to himself.

"So, what now?" Maya asked.

"Follow that funny little robot. He'll take you where you need to go." The Echos shut off and Angel's voice with them.

"Alright," Axton said. "You heard the lady. Lets go follow the robot."

The Vault Hunters started walking into the blizzard and after Claptrap. Their first few steps towards loot, fame and glory.

* * *

**Author's Note: So yeah. Vault Hunters and what not... Leave a review if you'd like. In retrospect this is a rather pointless note.**


	3. My First Gun

Heyo!

So, I'm sorry about this chapter, it's really dialog heavy and doesn't differ that much from the story. It's not entirely my fault, I mean, the beginning of the game is pretty heavy with exposition and it's not like I could just ignore it. As a result this chapter does not read as smoothly as some of the others will, there's just very little room for me to put in bits about the Vault Hunters without it seeming somewhat awkward and forced. So I apologize for that. I'll make up for it a little in the next chapter, where we have actual conversations between Vault Hunters and -gasp- _character development_.

Anyway, this chapter is a combination of My First Gun and the first half of Blindsided. Enjoy!

**My First Gun**

* * *

After catching up with Claptrap, and a few minutes of travel through the blizzard they came to a small dwelling in the side of the glacier.

"Well done!" Claptrap exclaimed. "Your ability to walk short distances without dying will be Handsome Jack's downfall!"

The robot rolled up to the door and it scanned him.

"And open." He said dramatically.

The door opened up and he rolled inside, the Vault Hunters following close behind

The walls inside were adorned with various robot parts and a few corpses that were half imbedded in the ice.

"Just a little added security, gotta keep those bullymongs at bay or they rip your eyes out!"

Salvador examined one of the other Claptrap units lying on the floor. He kicked it and it rolled over into a wall.

"Sorry about the mess." Claptrap apologized. "Everything Jack kills he dumps here: bandits, vault hunters, claptrap units…" He paused. "If I sound happy about that its because my programmers made this is my default tone of voice. I'm actually quite depressed!" He said cheerily.

Axton sat down on a couch next to a dead bandit, Salvador kept examining the deactivated claptrap unit and Zer0 disappeared into a closet. That left Maya as the only one really listening to Claptrap.

"Now," he continued. "The creatures out here are dangerous, none more than this bullymong named Knuckle Dragger, killed everyone I know."

"That's rough." Axton commented.

"Anywho, I keep some guns in the cabinet over there for emergencies, but in here we should be pretty safe.

As soon as Claptrap finished the sentence the ground started shaking and the house shook. A giant bullymong jumped in through the ceiling and grabbed Claptrap as the robot tried to run away.

"Holy shit!" Axton yelled jumping behind the couch he was on. Maya hit the ground and made herself as small as possible, Zer0 peaked his head out of the closet and Salvador ignored everything like it was nothing new.

Knuckle Dragger took the robot, tore out his eye and then jumped back up through a hole in the roof.

"Gah! My eye!" Claptrap screamed in pain.

"You gonna be alright there?" Axton asked poking his head up from behind the couch.

"My eye!" He screamed again.

"Guess not." He said standing up.

"The guns. The guns in the cabinet." Claptrap said weakly.

Salvador walked to the cabinet and opened it up, the others followed behind him. He picked up a small handful of weapons and distributed them to the Vault Hunters.

"Rifle for the commando." He said tossing a Dahl to Axton.

"Much obliged." Axton replied.

"Maliwan for the pretty lady." Salvador said handing Maya an SMG.

"Incendiary rounds, twenty right round clip, low recoil, enhanced sights and a nice paint job. Thanks."

"A sniper for big and mysterious."

"Thank you Salvador/I shall kill many with it/It's swift and deadly."

"And I'll take the rest." He said grabbing the odd remaining handful of assorted weapons.

Claptrap rolled up towards them and blindly tripped over a table, knocking over several other deactivated claptrap units in the process.

The Vault Hunters looked at Axton.

"And he's really supposed to be our ticket out of here?" Maya asked skeptically.

Axton shrugged. "You got a better idea?"

"Once upon a time four vault hunters changed the fate of Pandora but there time has passed, thanks to Handsome Jack." Angel's voice said over their Echos. "Pandora needs new heros. I know that those heros are you four." She cut off again before anyone could respond.

"Is she gonna do that a lot?" Maya asked.

Salvador shrugged. "Maybe."

Claptrap stood himself back up and made his way to the edge of room.

"Aside from the excruciating pain, this is great! I've been waiting for a group of mighty vault hunters to help me reach Sanctuary. I will be your leader and you shall be my fearsome minions!" Claptrap then erupted into maniacal laughter.

"Who said anything about being minions?" Maya questioned.

Axton shrugged. "Just humor him. After all what's the worst that could happen?"

"Death, dismemberment, being eaten alive, getting shot, being tortured, freezing to death… Do you want me to go on?"

Claptrap disappeared through a Claptrap sized hole in the wall and then reappeared in the now opened doorway a few moments later. The Vault Hunters walked through, following the robot. He bumped into a terminal, activating it on accident.

He felt his way to the door and then turned around towards the assembled Vault Hunters.

"Great, just let me get this door open and then we'll hunt ourselves a bullymong."

Claptrap opened up a terminal and started typing something into it. A moment later the door to the outside opened up. Claptrap rolled through and the Vault Hunters followed.

"Onward seeing eye minions. Let me know if I'm going to run into anything."

Claptrap rolled forward directly into a chunk of ice protruding from the wall of the ice shelf.

"I'll just assume you didn't see that." He said.

"So uh... How are you supposed to lead us if you're blind?" Axton asked.

"Simple, I know this glacier like the back of my hand. Even though Knuckle Dragger blinded me, I bet you we'll find my eye in Frostbite Crevasse."

Claptrap rolled forward and into an ice pile, flipping over onto his face. As he was picking himself up Angel's voice came back on the Echo.

"You're going to want to stick close to the robot, he'll lead you to the city of Sanctuary. That is the only place you will be safe."

"Hold on a second." Maya said before the Echo turned back off.

"Uh… Yes?" Angel answered.

"Are you just going to give us two sentences worth of advice at a time and then not talk for another fifteen minutes?"

"I uh… I only present relevant information?" She half answered.

"And what if we need to talk to you instead of you talking to us?" Axton asked.

"Just uh… Just ask for me, I'm always listening."

"That's not creepy at all." Salvador mumbled.

"Are you uh… Are you done asking questions?" She asked.

"Yeah, we're done." Axton said.

"Good, then uh… You know… Follow Claptrap."

The frequency cut off and the Vault Hunters put their Echos back down.

"So uh… Where did Claptrap run off too?" Axton asked.

Suddenly he heard the robot scream from around the corner.

"I hear bullymongs! Sic 'em minions!" Claptrap yelled. "Protect me squire!"

Half a dozen bullymongs jumped down from the ice walls and into the canyon with the Vault Hunters.

"Anyone got a plan?" Axton asked.

"Don't die." Salvador answered.

"And kill them." Zer0 added.

"Fair enough."

Axton dropped down to one knee and raised his rifle up. He fired two shots and they buried themselves into a bullymong.

"Not bad eh?" He said.

Zer0 took a running start and jumped on top of a bullymong, he shot another nearby one with his sniper and then plunged his katana into the bullymong he was on top of.

"Try to keep up." He said to Axton.

Salvador tossed a grenade and it dropped between two of the remaining bullymongs. It exploded between them and both of them fell to the ground.

That left one bullymong.

It took off running towards Claptrap.

"Minions! Protect me!" Claptrap screamed in terror.

"I got it!" Maya yelled.

She pulled up her SMG and pulled the trigger. The gun jumped around in her hand and bullets sprayed wildly all over the place.

"Holy shit!" Axton yelled. "Hit the dirt!"

Axton dove to the ground; Zer0 and Salvador quickly followed suit.

A stray bullet hit the bullymong and a moment later Maya's gun ran out of ammo.

Axton peered up from the ground.

"Is it safe now?" He asked.

"She's out of ammo." Sal said.

"Great, that means she can't kill us." Axton said standing up.

He walked over to Maya, who was fumbling with the SMG, trying to reload it.

He grabbed it out of her hand.

"Hey, what was-"

"Who taught you how to shoot?"

"What?"

"I said, who taught you how to shoot?"

"N-nobody. I read a book about it though..."

"That explains a hell of a lot."

"I-"

"You could have killed us."

"I didn't-"

"You didn't what?"

"I didn't mean to I just... I... I'm sorry. It won't happen again."

Axton sighed. "Just be more careful. I didn't leave Dahl to get killed on a border planet by a siren who can't aim."

"I'm sorry..." She mumbled, trying not to make eye contact.

"It's alright." He said. "I'll teach you the right way to shoot when we get a chance. Until then just do this."

He placed the Mailwan in her hand.

"Hold it firmly and don't let it shake your grip."

He put his hands on top of hers to show her what he meant.

"Now, you ease up on the trigger. Don't slam your finger into it. And fire in bursts, don't just hold the trigger until you're out of ammo. You're liable to kill someone that way."

He let go of her hands.

"You got it?"

"Yeah." She said. "I got it."

"Good."

"Hey, are you two done bonding?" Salvador yelled.

Axton and Maya looked up at the gunzerker. He was leaning against an ice covered wall and looking bored. Zer0 was nearby pulling Claptrap out of a hole in the ice.

"Yeah, we're done." Axton said. "Let's get moving."

Claptrap once again took the lead and rolled his way through an ice arch leading out of the canyon.

Suddenly there was a low rumbling and the ground shook.

"What was that?" Maya asked.

"They say that its Handsome Jack's drills causing the earthquakes. He's been digging like crazy trying to find the Vault. Either that, or your mom just got out of bed. Zing!"

The Vault Hunters looked at one another.

"I was raised by my abuela." Salvador mumbled.

"I never knew my parents." Maya said.

"I'm an orphan." Axton muttered.

Zer0 stayed silent.

"What's the matter big guy? The yellow box hurt your feelings?" Salvador asked.

"Does he have feelings?" Axton asked.

"Leave him alone guys." Maya said.

"Fine." They muttered in unison.

Claptrap kept going, crashed his way into yet another ice pile and then managed to roll his way off a cliff. He landed face down in a snowbank at the bottom. A number of bullymongs wandered up to him and started sniffing and poking him.

"We should probably help him, shouldn't we?" Axton asked.

"We don't have too." Salvador answered. "They won't eat a robot... Probably."

"Ah! They're trying to eat me alive!" Claptrap screamed.

Axton facepalmed.

"Lets go save him." He sighed.

Axton, Salvador and Maya jumped down from the cliff.

"Come get some!" Salvador screamed.

The bullymongs turned towards Salvador and roared.

Before any of them could make a move, two shots rang out and two of them dropped to the ground. Salvador looked up and saw Zer0 up on the cliff with a bright red "lol" on his visor.

Salvador yelled angrily in Spanish and started firing blindly into the bullymongs.

"Should we help him?" Maya asked.

"No I think he's got it." Axton said, watching the bullymongs drop left and right under the fire of the dwarf.

Axton heard a roar behind him and turned around only to see a bullymong staring him right in front of his face, mere inches away.

Thinking quickly, Axton pulled the tomahawk off his belt and swung it at the creature's face. He left a gashing scar across its face and it roared in pain. The bullymong slammed an arm into the commando and he flew back into an ice wall.

The bullymong advanced on him menacingly.

But before it could reach him, there was a burst of gunfire and the bullymong reared in pain and collapsed to the ground.

Behind it, Maya stood holding a still smoking SMG.

She walked up to Axton.

"Are you alright?"

"I've had worse." He mumbled standing up.

Axton looked over to Salvador, the gunzerker was surrounded by dead bullymongs and firing blindly into the air screaming.

"He scares me a little bit." He whispered to Maya.

The siren nodded in agreement.

Zer0 dropped down from the cliff next to Salvador and the gunzerker stopped firing when he realized there was nothing left to shoot.

"Where is the Claptrap?/I saw him fall off the cliff/But where is he now?"

"Minions! Assist me!"

Zer0 turned around and saw Claptrap upside down in a snow bank.

"Could you get me out of here? ...you still there? I don't hear bullymongs anymore, kinda just waiting on you. But take your time. To get me outta here. I know what you're probably thinking, 'Claptrap is such a noble paragon of justice and skill, he can totally get out of here himself.' And normally you'd be right, but right now I could kinda use a little help. And if you don't, I'm gonna have to pull out the big guns and give you the silent treatment."

Zer0 sighed and lifted the robot out of the snow.

"Many thanks friend of friends! Onwards!" Claptrap rolled his way towards an old Hyperion storage supply unit and opened it up.

"Hey kiddos." A voice said over their Echo-Devices. "Jack here, president of Hyperion. Lemme explain how things work here. Vault Hunters show up, Vault Hunters look for the new Vault, Vault Hunters get killed. By me. You seeing the problem here? You're all still alive So if you wanna do me a favor and just off yourself, that'd be great. Thanks pumpkin.

The Echo-Device cut off before any of them could respond.

"Well that was uncalled for." Axton mumbled to himself.

"I'm going to enjoy killing him." Zer0 said.

"You and me both."Salvador muttered.

"Oh!" Claptrap exclaimed. "My eye switched back on. I see a devilishly handsome robot and four fearsome minions!" He paused. "Which means, whoever has my eye... Is very close."

Suddenly Knuckle Dragger jumped down off an ice wall and onto the ground. He picked up a junked car and tossed it over his head towards the Vault Hunters. The car narrowly missed them and slammed into the wall behind them, exploding into little pieces.

"This is gonna hurt..." Salvador muttered.

* * *

**Author's Note: I started a new game just to make sure that I get most of the dialog correct. Also, it's my excuse to finally play Zer0.**


	4. An Eye for an Eye

Heyo!

Here's the next update in the ever expanding story Pandora's Vault Hunters.

This one deviates more from the cannon than the previous ones. As we go on, this'll happen more and more. I don't plan to straight up contradict cannon, but we will deviate from it more.

**An Eye for An Eye**

* * *

Knuckle Dragger roared at the Vault Hunters and they scattered into different directions.

Axton ran for cover and hid behind one of the junked cars, Maya ran as far from the enormous bullymong as possible and then took cover behind an ice pile and Salvador and Zer0 stood straight in its path.

Salvador digistructed a shotgun and aimed it at the creature.

"Hey! Big and ugly, say hello to my little fr-" He was stopped short when a giant ice chunk hit him square in the chest, knocking him down on his back.

Axton looked up at the direction the ice chunk had come from, standing there was a group of bullymongs holding ice balls in each free hand.

"We got more of them in the back!" Axton yelled.

He fired a few bursts at the bullymongs and they turned their attention towards him.

"Great..." He muttered.

Meanwhile, Zer0 hacked and slashed his way through the smaller bullymongs towards Knuckledragger. He jumped off the back of one and landed right in front of the badass.

He thrust his katana forward but before it could hit, Knuckledragger slammed an arm into him and knocked him over to the side.

The assassin let out a grunt as he impacted an icy wall and collapsed to the ground.

"Zer0's down." Axton yelled as he wrestled with a bullymong who was trying to tear him up with his teeth.

"I got him!" Maya yelled. "The siren ran up to the assassin and kneeled down next to him. She jabbed a syringe into his arm and pushed down the pump.

The assassin stood up warily and picked his katana back up.

"Thank you." He said running back into the fight.

Meanwhile, Salvador and Axton were cleaning up the last of the small bullymongs. Axton plunged his tomahawk into a bullymong's skull and looked up.

"That's all of the little ones!" He shouted.

"Ah!" Claptrap yelled. "They're coming out of the wall sphincters!"

"Wall sphincters?" Salvador questioned.

Suddenly another half a dozen bullymongs jumped out of various holes in the wall of the canyon.

"Son of a bitch... " Axton said.

He pulled his tomahawk back out of the dead bullymong's skull and gripped it tightly in one hand. With his other hand he reached on to his belt and grabbed a storage deck off of it.

"Hey, wanna meet my girlfriend?" He yelled as he tossed it at the bullymongs.

The storage deck hit the ground in front of them, but rather than activating it just sparked a little and a trail of smoke came out. The unit digistructed and returned to Axton.

"Well shit." He mumbled.

He grabbed his rifle and let loose on the advancing pack. With him and Salvador spraying all those rounds into them, and Zer0 sniping from behind, the bullymongs were dealt with quickly. As soon as they were taken care of, they turned back to deal with Knuckledragger. However they found the badass bullymong otherwise occupied.

Maya stood in the center of Frostbite Crevasse, Knuckledragger advancing towards her. She raised a tattooed fist up and slammed it into the bullymong's face. He recoiled and stumbled back. She took the opportunity to grab an icicle out of his hand and she jammed it into his eye. She ripped Claptrap's eye off of his neck and dug the icicle in deeper.

"An for an eye bitch..." She muttered as she pushed the icicle in further.

Suddenly Knuckledragger went limp and fell to the ground, leaving Maya alone in the center. A few remaining small bullymongs turned tail and ran away.

The other Vault Hunters stood watching her from the sides in shock and amazement.

"Chicka can fight." Salvador said in approval.

"Excellent display/Most bloody and violent/Quite the spectacle."

"Holy shit." Axton said. "Where'd you learn to fight like that?"

"Athenis." She said. "I was trained in seventeen different forms of hand-to-hand combat."

"But no one took the time to teach you how to shoot?" He asked skeptically.

"Guns are clumsy and misfire. You know how reliable your hand is." She said crossing her arms over her chest.

"You're gonna have to teach me some of that." Axton said.

"Before or after you teach me how to shoot?" She said placing a hand on her hip.

"Funny..." He muttered.

"Minions! You've successfully reclaimed my eye! Also, I'm sorry for yelling 'wall sphincters' I do that a lot when I'm scared." He said.

"Right... Now what?" Axton asked.

"Now we have to get my eye back into my head, and, as much as I'm sure you'd love to jam your fist into my face, this sort of thing is best left to professionals. We'll go see my old buddy Sir Hammerlock in Liar's Burg. He'll be able to fix me up. Now, allons-y." He said as he rolled away.

"Hold it there Clappy, it'll be dark soon." Axton said. "We might want to rest for a little."

"That fight with Knuckle Dragger was kinda draining." Maya added. "I wouldn't mind some sleep."

"What about you Sal?" Axton asked turning around.

He turned around, only to see the gunzerker already passed out in the snow.

"Well I guess that settles it." He said. "We'll stop here for a night and move on in the morning."

"But minions!"

"We're stopping Claptrap. Either that or you can wander blindly off another cliff."

"Fine." He said grudgingly.

Axton turned around, but then looked back at the other Vault Hunters as if he just remembered something.

"Hey that reminds me." Axton said. "Anyone else having problems with their gear?"

"What do you mean?" Zer0 asked.

"My turret hasn't been working since the train crash, I think it got busted. You guys having any problems with your stuff?"

"Let me check..." Salvador said pulling himself up off the ground and pulling out a shotgun and a rifle. He turned around and fired them at an ice wall. The guns jumped around wildly in his hand as they recoiled and he dropped to the ground before he lost control of them.

"Not working." He said.

"Wait, so you can't just fire two guns at once all of the sudden?" Maya asked.

"Says the chicka that can't even shoot one gun." He fired back. "I have a stabilizer to keep the guns steady. You fire two guns at once and you'll kill yourself. You have a stabilizer, you're a fucking force of nature."

"What about you Maya? How's your skill?"

"I mean... I can still use my powers..." She said, her tattoos pulsing dully. "But I'm not sure if I can still phase lock... I have a regulator for that, it keeps the energy in check and keeps me from accidentally setting myself on fire."

"Wanna try it out?" He asked.

"Not really…" She said hesitantly. "But I need to know if its working."

Maya held out her arm and tried to create a phase lock around an ice covered boulder. The rock glowed briefly for a moment but then Maya's arm pulsed with energy and knocked her back to the ground.

"Ow..."

She stood back up and looked at Axton.

"It's not working." She said.

"So I see. Hold still for a second..." Axton mumbled.

He reached out his hand and closed two fingers around one of Maya's hairs that had managed to catch fire. There was a small sizzling noise as the fire extinguished and Maya rolled her eyes.

"If its any consolation, you're still smoking." Axton said with a grin.

Maya rolled her eyes again and, in no mood to deal with that right now, slapped Axton across the face.

"I probably deserved that."

Maya gave him a sarcastic look that said "you think so?"

"Anyway, how about you Zer0. Your suit working?"

"No."

"Well that sucks. What are we supposed to do about it?"

"Hammerlock could probably fix your gear minions." Claptrap chimed in.

"Well that's convenient." Axton said. "I guess we'll get our stuff repaired tomorrow in Liar's Burg."

* * *

A small fire burned brightly in the darkness that spread across Southern Shelf at night.

Zer0 was leaning against an ice pile, his visor showed a dull red glowing "zzz". Salvador was literally curled up next to the fire, like some sort of really big, really hairy lap dog. Claptrap had, again, blindly wandered into a hole and nobody felt like fishing him out at the moment so that's where he was. Axton was awake and tending to the fire, and Maya was next to him keeping a nervous eye on the others. Axton glanced over at the nervous looking siren.

"What's up?" He asked. "Can't sleep?"

"I don't want to sleep." She answered.

"Why not?"

"You really want to know?"

"Kinda."

She sighed. "Truth be told I'm a bit scared."

"Of what? The bullymongs? The bandits?"

"No. Those I can handle. I'm scared of them." She said pointing at Zer0 and Salvador.

"Why?" He asked.

"Have you seen Salvador's wanted poster? He's wanted for cannibalism. I don't want to fall asleep around a guy who eats people."

"Well what about Zer0?"

"He's an assassin. There are a lot of people willing to pay to kill me. How do I know that he's not working for one of them?"

"I guess you don't."

"Exactly."

"So does this mean that you do trust me?"

"Not particularly. But I'm sure that I could take you in a fight. Those two, I'm not a hundred percent on."

"Gee, I'm flattered."

"Don't kid yourself, I could melt you from the inside out before you could even draw your gun."

Axton shrugged, she was probably right.

"Well what are you going to do then? I mean about them?"

"I don't know."

"How about this, you go to sleep and I'll keep an eye on them."

"I still don't trust you though."

"Fine then, stay up all night. I'm going to sleep."

Axton opened up a storage deck and rifled around through it for a minute. He pulled out a green sleeping bag with a Dahl logo stamped on it.

"I don't suppose you have another one of those?" Maya asked.

"Maybe I do. Why do you ask?"

"Because its really cold out here and it would be nice to have one."

"That's what you get for wearing that outfit in the snow." He said pointing to her combat suit.

"It's not my fault."

"I'm pretty sure you're the one that made the conscious decision to forgo wearing something warmer, or something with a left sleeve for that matter."

"I can't wear anything on that arm. When I use my powers my tattoos heat up, they'd burn their way straight through the sleeve."

"You still could have packed something extra for when you're not in combat."

"Will you please just help me Axton?"

"I could, but that sort of depends."

"Depends on what?"

"Well, I've only got one of these so we'd have to share and I don't suppose you're willing to sleep with me?"

"I'm not sleeping with you. Ever. Under any circumstance."

Axton shrugged and went back to rummaging through the storage deck.

"What are you doing n-" Maya got cut off when Axton threw something at her and it landed on her face.

She pulled it off of her and looked at it. It was another Dahl sleeping bag.

"I thought you only had one."

"Nah, I carry at least two of everything. It's called being prepared, you should try it sometime."

"But then why did you try to get me to sleep with-" Maya paused as she realized what she was saying. "You're a pig Axton."

"Hey, whatever you think I meant when I said sleep, you're wrong. I just like to cuddle."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. Is there something wrong with that?"

"That you're a man who likes to cuddle? Nope, nothing weird there."

"Fuck you."

"In your dreams."

"Ah fuck it. I hope the gunzerker eats you."

Axton crawled into the sleeping bag and tried to go to sleep.

Maya sat there for a moment. She really didn't want to go to sleep, on the other hand, staying awake for the entire night probably wasn't an option.

Maybe Salvador wasn't actually a cannibal and it had been a misunderstanding that got it added to his list of offenses.

At that moment the gunzerker rolled over on the ground and in a half asleep state mumbled something that, to Maya, sounded a lot like "tasty".

She immediately got up, went over next to Axton and shook him back awake.

"What do you want?" He asked with a yawn.

"Move over, I'm sleeping with you."

"I knew you couldn't resist my devilish charm."

"Shove it soldier boy. I can still melt you from the inside out."

About twenty feet away Claptrap was still at the bottom of a hole in the ice field.

"Minions? Minions? A little help? Please? Minions…?"

* * *

**Author's Note: I almost feel sorry for you guys, you have to read through all my ridiculous headcannon in this fic. But yeah, that's my official explanation on why Maya and Salvador can't use their action skills even though they're not tech based like Axton's and Zer0's.**

**Author's Other Note: About Maya's outfit... Seriously, every time I see her in Southern Shelf, where it's cold and snowing, and all she has is that combat outfit that exposes her arm, and part of her chest and hip. She has to be freezing. Can't she just have a coat or something?**


End file.
